Brrrr! Cold grips Wisconsin

Wisconsin is in the grip of the season’s coldest temperatures so far this winter, and the extreme cold is expected to linger into Saturday. “Our low this morning occurred shortly after sunrise, came in about 32 degrees – 32 degrees below zero, that is,” said Ken DeNucci, news director at radio station WJMC in Rice Lake. “Fortunately our air is calm, so we have no wind chill to speak about.”

But wind chill is on the way. “Talking to the Weather Service earlier this morning, it sounds like tonight is going to see, between midnight and 9:00, maybe the worst of the wind chill,” said Jared Albrecht is with Wisconsin Emergency Management, which has issued advisories about the bitter wind chills which are yet to come in this cold snap. “We’re just kind of looking at the beginning of this, for the most part.”

In northwestern Wisconsin, organizers of a cross country ski event have pushed the start time back, to allow participants to avoid the worst of the morning wind chills. Scott Klohn at radio station WRLS in Hayward said organizers of Saturday’s ‘Birkie Tour’ moved the start from 8:00-9:00 to 9:30-10:30. The tour is a prelude to next month’s American Birkebiener race. On the other hand, very few schools canceled classes today.